1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transportation containers, particularly to suitcases, carrying bags, or the like which contain cushioning for the items being carried.
2. Description of Prior Art
In many known transportation containers, a foam padding was used as part of the means for cushioning the items being transported. Such containers, which are produced, e.g., by Parsons Manufacturing Corporation, 1055 O'Brien Dr., Menlo Park, CA 94025, comprised rigid casings whose inner surfaces were lined with foam. Such conventional foam padding, however, was often too hard or too soft; thus the container's contents still could be damaged from rough handling or accidental dropping. Therefore such containers often required custom foam liners, i.e., liners with a customized density and thickness. Also the foam lining in such containers often was too thick or too thin for holding anything but an item of a predetermined type and dimensions.
It was also known to use inflatable containers for transportation of fragile delicate items, such as cameras, instruments, etc., or for carrying personal items such as clothing, business papers, or the like. For example, one collapsible suitcase is known (U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,794 to H. Mattel, issued June 28, 1971) which had a rectangular configuration with flexible rectangular top, bottom, side, and end walls and a handle secured to one of such walls. A nonporous material inside the top and end walls cooperated with such walls to provide tubular chambers which communicated with each other, and a nipple was provided for inflating the chambers. When the chambers were inflated, the suitcase became self-supporting and the inflated chambers also served as shock absorbers for protecting the contents.
A container or suitcase of this type, however, was complicated in structure and expensive to manufacture. Moreover, it did not provide sufficient protection for the contents because the inflated chambers had more of a suitcase self-supporting function than a shock absorbing one. Since the inflatable chambers were integral with the walls of the suitcase, their expansion was restricted so that they could not conform closely to the shape of the items carried in the container. Thus the items transported were often free to move about and hence were susceptible to damage.
Another disadvantage of inflatable containers of the above kind was that sufficient air to inflate the chambers had to be forced in with a separate pump to obtain the desired inflation. This pump had to be kept separately, outside or inside the container.
To obviate this disadvantage, it has been suggested (U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,867 to R. J. Fisher, issued Aug. 30, 1977) to incorporate an air pump into the container's handle. The handle was made in the form of a cylinder with piston and a check valve. This assembly operated in a similar fashion to a bicycle pump. Several disadvantages of this air source were the complicated metal structure and cylindrical shape of the handle, which was inconvenient to hold. Besides, this pump had to be designed and manufactured specially for incorporation into the suitcase's handle and it consisted of many metal parts which increased the total weight of the suitcase and its final cost.